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[DATE]

Your Excellency,

We/I write to express our/my shock at hearing that Dr. Homa Hoodfar was arrested on June 6th 2016 and detained in Evin prison in Tehran.

We/I would like to draw your attention to the fact that Dr. Homa Hoodfar, is a highly respected university professor at Concordia University, Montreal where she has been residing for 30 years. She is an internationally renowned and widely published anthropologist who studies a range of issues related to the role of woman in Middle Eastern societies and their struggles.

We/I understand that Professor Hoodfar travelled to Iran in February this year to see her family. Shortly before she was to return home, she was arrested in March, but released on bail. After being interrogated for months, Professor Hoodfar was once again summoned for interrogation on Monday June 6th and then imprisoned without due process.

Dr. Hoodfar’s arrest is incomprehensible given that she has never been involved in politics of any sort. She is an anthropologist who conducts ethnographic research across the Middle East. Indeed, her research is known to be balanced and several of her studies highlight the opportunities and high status that women have availed of in various Muslim countries, including in Iran. This is the case for example, of her recent work that showcases women volunteer health workers in Iran’s health system. As stated in the report Health Workers and Health Knowledge as Avenues of Empowerment, the “research project has created the space for women we interviewed to reflect on their acquired sense of sense -fulfilment and self- worth; and how they have overcome the problems and challenges that accompanied their new role in the public sphere as health volunteers.”

Professor Hoodfar is appreciated everywhere for her unprejudiced views of politics and history. She is very much a patriot when it comes to Iran, and often argues that change must come from within through internal processes in societies and working within religious parametres. She was among the pioneer scholars to highlight Muslim women’s public roles that have been justified through religious precepts. Her writings have greatly contributed to challenging the essentialised portrayals of Muslim women that was prominent in Western scholarship until recently.

We/I are/am deeply concerned that, following her arrest, Dr. Hoodfar is not being allowed to see her lawyer or contact family and that her relatives have not been able to ensure she has the medication she needs for a serious neurological condition.

We/I would draw your attention to the fact that Dr. Hoodfar suffered a stroke last year and because of her illness, she requires regular medical attention and treatment for which she needs to return to Canada.

We/I therefore respectfully request that the Iranian authorities:

Provide Dr Hoodfar immediate access to her family and lawyer;

Ensure Dr Hoodfar has the medicines she requires for her neurological illness, her condition is monitored and the report shared with her family;

Release Dr Hoodfar and return her passport and other essential documents so she can travel back to Canada to continue her treatment there and resume her academic work.

I/We are writing to ask respectfully for your intervention for the immediate release of Professor Homa Hoodfar, a world-re-known Canadian-Iranian scholar who was arrested in Iran and is believed to be held in Tehran's Evin prison.

For the past 25 years, Professor Hoodfar has made significant scholarly contributions to build bridges of understanding through Middle Eastern Studies at McGill and Concordia Universities in Canada. She is the author of numerous books and articles, specializing in gender and family issues.

I/We are writing to express our deep concern for her safety and frustration over her detention in Iran. Professor Hoodfar went to Iran to visit her family earlier this year. On March 9, 2016, she was taken in for interrogation and her passports, computer and other things confiscated. Since then Professor Hoodfar has been subjected to repeated interrogations and accusations, for which no evidence has been presented. She was once again summoned for interrogation on 6 June 2016, and then imprisoned.

Neither her lawyer nor her family have been granted permission to visit her or provide her medication. She suffers from a rare neurological condition – myasthenia gravis – that requires close medical supervision and medication. Furthermore, their inquiries about the reason for her arrest and the charges against her have remained unanswered.

I/We are deeply troubled by the manner in which Professor Hoodfar has been treated, and worry about her declining health. Additionally, Prof Hoodfar has a number of ongoing academic obligations in Canada, including graduate students who depend on her guidance to complete their degrees.

I/we urge the Government of Canada to take immediate steps to ensure the safety of this distinguished scholar, and achieve her immediate release and safe return to Canada.

I/We are writing to ask respectfully for your intervention for the immediate release of Prof. Homa Hoodfar, a world re-known scholar who was arrested in Iran and is believed to be held in Tehran's Evin prison.

For the past 30 years, Professor Hoodfar, who is an Irish national, has made significant scholarly contributions to build bridges of understanding through Middle Eastern Studies at McGill and Concordia Universities in Canada. She is the author of numerous books and articles, specializing in gender and family issues.

I/We are writing to express our deep concern for her safety and frustration over her detention in Iran. Professor Hoodfar went to Iran to visit her family earlier this year. On March 9, 2016, she was taken in for interrogation and her passports, computer and other things confiscated. Since then Professor Hoodfar has been subjected to repeated interrogations and accusations, for which no evidence has been presented. She was once again summoned for interrogation on 6 June 2016, and then imprisoned.

Neither her lawyer nor her family have been granted permission to visit her or provide her medication. She suffers from a rare neurological condition – myasthenia gravis – that requires close medical supervision and medication. Furthermore, their inquiries about the reason for her arrest and the charges against her have remained unanswered. Furthermore, Prof Hoodfar has a number of ongoing academic obligations in Canada, including graduate students who depend on her guidance to complete their degrees.

I/We are deeply troubled by the manner in which Professor Hoodfar has been treated, and worry about her declining health.

I/We urge the Government of Ireland to take immediate steps to ensure the safety of this distinguished scholar, and achieve her immediate release and safe return to Canada.